BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1742
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 13, 2006
Chief Counsel: Gregory Pagan
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
Mark Leno, Chair
SB 1742 (Machado) - As Amended: May 1, 2006
SUMMARY : Requires the Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) to
only accept a person committed to it if DJJ has adequate staff
and programs to provide care, and deletes provisions of law that
require DJJ to accept a person who is borderline psychiatric,
borderline mentally deficient, a specified sexual deviate, or
suffering from a behavior disorder.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires DJJ to accept a person committed to DJJ if DJJ
believes the person can be materially benefited by its
reformatory and educational discipline, and if DJJ has
adequate facilities to provide care. [Welfare and
Institutions Code (WIC) Section 736(a).]
2)Requires DJJ to accept a person committed to DJJ, provided the
Director certifies that staff and institutions are available,
and if the person is borderline psychiatric, borderline
mentally deficient, a specified sexual deviate, or a person
suffering from a behavior disorder. [WIC Section 736(b).]
3)Requires the Director of DJJ and the Director of the
Department of Mental Health (DMH) to confer and establish
policy at least annually with respect to the types of cases
which should be the responsibility of each department. [WIC
Section 736(b).]
4)Provides that when a court commits a ward to DJJ the court
must send DJJ a summary of all the facts in possession of the
court, covering the history of the ward committed and a
statement of the ward's mental and physical condition. (WIC
Section 735.)
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
SB 1742
Page 2
COMMENTS :
1)Author's Statement : According to the author, "WIC Section 736
requires the Youth Authority (now DJJ) to accept a person
committed to it if it believes the person can be materially
benefited by its reformatory and educational discipline, and
if it has adequate facilities to provide care. Additionally,
the Youth Authority must accept a person who is 'borderline
psychiatric' or 'mentally deficient', a 'sex deviate', or a
person that suffers from a 'primary behavior disorder'.
"This section contains archaic language that is over 40 years
old and is no longer used by mental health professionals or
public policy makers in determining mental health treatment
needs for youth committed to the state juvenile justice
system. Additionally, by specifically delineating which type
of mental health cases may be accepted by the DJJ, the
language may inadvertently restrict DJJ's ability to accept,
or offer treatment to, youth with other mental health or
treatment needs. Finally, certain individuals may have mental
health needs beyond the ability of DJJ to provide successful
treatment; the language in WIC Section 736 may hinder the
State of California's ability to appropriately place such an
individual in another treatment program.
"This bill deletes the references to obsolete mental health
terminology, and instead provides that DJJ shall only accept
offenders if it has adequate staff and programs to provide
necessary care. Additionally, the bill continues to require
that the Deputy Director of DJJ and the Director of DMH to
jointly develop policies to determine which cases would best
be served by the respective departments."
2)What This Bill Does : Under existing law, the DJJ is required
to accept a person committed to DJJ if DJJ believes the person
can be materially benefited by its reformatory and educational
discipline, and if it has adequate facilities to provide such
care. (WIC Section 736.) This bill expands those
requirements to include adequate staff and programs as well.
Existing provisions of WIC Section 736 require DJJ to accept a
person with certain mental health conditions. This bill
repeals those provisions, which are largely archaic. This
bill also revises existing provisions of law that require DJJ
and DMH to annually confer and establish policy. This bill
SB 1742
Page 3
requires the departments to determine who is best served by a
commitment to DJJ and who would be better served by a
commitment to DMH. This bill makes technical conforming
changes in accordance with the Governor's Reorganization Plan
of 2005.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Books Not Bars
Chief Probation Officers of California
Commonweal
Youth Law Center
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Gregory Pagan / PUB. S. / (916)
319-3744